Bondage and Liberation by Swami Sivananda

The soul is said to be bound or free with reference to Gunas but it is not so in reality. As the Gunas have their origin in Maya, as they are the creation of Maya, there is neither bondage nor liberation.

Sorrow and delusion, joy and grief, even the taking of a body—these are all due to Maya. Just as a dream is only an illusory fiction of the mind, so also the course of birth or Samsara is not real.

O highly intelligent one! The Jiva who is My part, is bound without beginning on account of ignorance and is liberated through knowledge. He is in bondage as, because of his ignorance, he fancies he is separate from Me. He becomes free when he gets the knowledge that he and I are one.

Now I shall tell you the difference between the bound and the liberated soul, living in the same body with entirely opposite qualities.

Two birds which look alike (for both are manifestation of consciousness) and are companions, have by chance built their nest in the same tree (the body). One of these (the Jiva) eats the fruits (the results of his actions reaped in the body) of that tree, while the other (Isvara) though not taking any fruit is greater in strength and is the mightier of the two.

He who does not eat the fruit (of Karma) is wise. He knows himself as well as the other, but not he who eats the fruit. He who is joined with Avidya (ignorance) is always bound, while He who is joined with Vidya or He (Isvara) who is full of knowledge, is eternally free.

The wise one is not conditioned by the body, though he is in the body, like a man aroused from dream. But the foolish man who has a wrong notion is conditioned by the body like one in the dreaming state. The ignorant man identifies himself with the body, like the man in dream.

The senses perceive the objects of the senses. The wise one does not identify himself with these. He is, therefore, not affected by them.

The ignorant man, however, while dwelling in this body which is under the control of past actions, in which the senses act, thinks that he is the doer and becomes thus bound down.

The wise one, being thus free from attachment in such acts as sleeping, sitting, walking, bathing, seeing, touching, smelling, eating, hearing, etc., does not bind himself like the ignorant man; for, in those acts he realises that the Gunas (senses) perceive and not his Self. He does not identify himself with them. He stands as a silent witness of the activities or experiences of the organs. Even though he is living in the midst of Prakriti, still he is untouched by it like the sky, the sun and the air. He dwells in the body, but is not attached to it. The sun becomes reflected in water, but is not attached to water. The air moves about all around, but does not become attached to any object. Akasa is all-pervading, but it is not attached to anything.

By the force of dispassion, the vision becomes clear. All doubts are removed. The wise one rises as it were from sleep and withdraws himself from the diversities of the body and other material objects. His doubts are cleared by the eye of wisdom that the Jiva is Brahman, his desires are cut away by the sword of non-attachment or Vairagya; he sees Brahman everywhere, and is not any more deluded by the appearance of diversity or perplexity. Just as the man who awakes from a dream is no more deluded by the experiences he went through in the dream, so the wise man is never again deluded by multiplicity.

He whose breaths, the senses, mind and intellect do their functions without thoughts of purpose or plans, is freed from the attributes of the body though dwelling in the body. He is free from the bonds of Karma, though still enveloped by the body.

He who is not affected in the least when he is injured by others and worshipped by anybody is a wise man. He neither praises nor blames others for their good or bad deeds or words. He is free from merits and demerits. He knows no merits or demerits. He looks on all with an equal eye. He does not do anything, he does not say anything, he does not think on anything, good or bad. He finds delight in his own Atman. He is immersed in his own bliss of the Self and wanders about like an inert matter heedless of the outside world.

If a man well-versed in the Vedas is not fixed in Brahman, if he has no direct intuitive Self-realisation, his labour becomes fruitless like that of a man who keeps a breeding cow that bears no calf.

He who maintains a cow that has ceased to yield milk, an unchaste wife, a body that is under another’s control, a worthless and a wicked son, wealth which is not bestowed on deserving people, and speech in which My glory does not find expression, is one who goes from misery to misery.

The wise man ought not to indulge in that barren speech in which there is no mention of My glorious sacred deeds in relation to the creation, maintenance and destruction of the world or to My sportful Avataras or births which are liked by the people very much.

One should remove the delusion of diversity in Atman through such discrimination. He should desist from everything else and should stop all activities. If thou art not able to fix the mind steadily on the Brahman, then perform all actions without expectation for fruits, offering them to Me unconditionally.

{Now Sri Krishna proceeds to inculcate Bhakti or devotion.]

O Uddhava! The man of faith attains unswerving devotion towards Me, the Eternal One, by listening to the very auspicious stories of Mine that purify the worlds, by singing constantly, by remembering My deeds and lives, by doing all actions for My sake, by taking Me as his sole refuge and by pursuing duty, desire and wealth for My sake only.

He becomes my devout worshipper, attaining devotion for Me through association with the sages. He surely attains to Me as indicated by the sages.